This was the way my husband and I defined ourselves from June through September. Having a mini floating hotel was also very handy during Covid, and Zoom ensured we never missed church or meetings. It was especially nice to wake up on an anchorage with no other boats in sight, only nature. Being one with nature is the height of enlightenment.
I was enlightened when I stopped using fertilizer and herbicides 20+ years ago and later followed in the footsteps of Steve Jobs to become certified in User Experience (assessing your reaction to technology is the true height of enlightenment). I recently received Earth Charter grassroots organizer training (see earthcharter.org) and joined the New England Synod Green Team, who further enlightened me on how to properly introduce myself by watershed and First Nation:
• I live and worship in the Connecticut river watershed.
• My congregation is The Lutheran Church of St. Mark in Glastonbury CT where I am primarily the Chair of the Care for Creation team.
• The Podunk river runs near the back of my home in South Windsor CT. Native Americans in this area are referenced as the Podunk tribe, but also call themselves the Nowaas tribe, and the land itself was called Nowashe—“place between two rivers”.
• My degree is in Economics with a minor in Business. I am retired, but formerly worked in Information Technology as a Developer, Technical Writer, and Business Analyst.
My gardening style has become enlightened with the addition (return) of native plants and pollinator highways. I am now enlightened enough to understand the importance of measuring my congregation’s carbon footprint, and to understand that caring for all of God’s creation—flora and fauna, from the microscopic to the gargantuan, is one of the most enlightened things any of us can do.
Blessed be God who is our bread; May all the world be clothed and fed (and enlightened).
– Eleanor Tunney